Pre-peeled and pre-cut potatoes are immensely popular among consumers. Presently all potatoes which are pre-peeled and pre-cut are frozen and/or pre-cooked. A prior art method of preserving potatoes at refrigeration temperatures is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,527 (Ruggerone). In the Ruggerone patent the potatoes are cooked such that they are soft all the way through, dipped in a preservative, and then cut into the desired shapes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,196 (Weaver et al) describes another process for preparing pre-cooked potato products. This process cooks raw potatoes at 81-83.degree. C. for 5 to 45 minutes, heats these partially cooked potatoes to reduce the moisture content thereof, cooking the potatoes at 50-100.degree. C. for another period of 5 to 45 minutes, and preserving the potatoes in the absence of starch suspensions.
Thus, while the prior art teaches methods of preserving potatoes, the methods in all instances require either pre-cooking or freezing the potatoes. There is a need in the art for making fresh, uncooked, pre-cut, and pre-peeled potatoes available in the refrigerator sections of supermarkets and the like ready to be cooked and save the consumer the trouble of having to peel and cut them. Also, since these potatoes will be fresh, uncooked, and not frozen, they will retain more of their natural starch, vitamins, taste and texture.